More State FB Teams of Year

Kirk Clifton (left) signals to the camera how many CIF state titles that Sonora has won in the last two seasons after team won CIF D2-A crown last Saturday. At right is Corona Centennial junior standout Jaden Walk-Green. The Huskies are State Public Schools Team of the Year for third straight season. Photos: Mark Tenns & cen10.football / Instagram.com.

FOR ANNOUNCEMENT OF SANTA MARGARITA AS STATE TEAM OF YEAR,
CLICK HERE.

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NOTE: Divisional placement for each school is based mostly on the divisions in which each school competed in during that season in their CIF section and CIF regional/state divisions. League strength also has always been a major component of division placement. Enrollments are used in much lower priority in recent years in section playoff division placement in favor of competitive equity. Enrollments are a factor in our five-division format in that a school with a large enrollment (especially those with 2,500 or more) cannot be in our D4 or D5 because those divisions over the years have been the ones we consider for traditional “small” schools representing smaller towns.

STATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS TEAM OF YEAR:
CENTENNIAL (CORONA)

In the end, a final No. 2 overall state ranking with Mater Dei of Santa Ana at No. 3 turned out to be pretty obvious for longtime head coach Matt Logan’s squad. The Huskies, after all, beat Mater Dei twice and their two losses in a 11-2 season were both to No. 1 Santa Margarita.

This season, Centennial also didn’t have to play and beat Mission Viejo to be the State Public Schools Team of the Year, which happened for 2024. Mission, the other top public school program in the CIF Southern Section D1 playoffs, lost 20-0 to Mater Dei in a first-round game.

With this year’s top public school honor for the state, the Huskies have now gained that distinction for three straight years, four out of the last five years and it’s eight out of the last 11 years.

This also is the 11th time since 2007 that Centennial has been State Public School Team of the Year. The total also is highest for any public school since the first year of 1891 that Cal-Hi Sports shows an overall State Team of the Year.

In a season that featured Logan reaching more than 300 wins for his coaching career, the highlight was a blocked field goal with nine seconds left in a CIFSS D1 semifinal vs Mater Dei that was the difference in a 28-27 win over the Monarchs, who were two-time defending champions in that division. Centennial then lost to Santa Margarita in the CIFSS D1 final, 41-7. The Huskies also got past Mater Dei, 43-36, in the regular season in a game they led 33-7 at halftime.

CAL-HI SPORTS STATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
FOOTBALL TEAMS OF THE YEAR

2025 – Centennial (Corona) 11-2
2024 – Centennial (Corona) 9-3
2023 – Centennial (Corona) 9-3
2022 – Los Alamitos 9-3
2021 – Centennial (Corona) 11-1
2020 – Folsom 6-0**
2019 – Mission Viejo 11-1
2018 – Centennial (Corona) 12-1
2017 – Centennial (Corona) 10-2
2016 – Centennial (Corona) 11-2
2015 – Centennial (Corona) 14-1
2014 – Folsom 16-0
2013 – Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 11-2
2012 – Centennial (Corona) 14-2
2011 – Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) 14-0
2010 – Folsom 14-1
2009 – Oceanside 14-0
2008 – Centennial (Corona) 15-0**
2007 – Centennial (Corona) 13-2
2006 – Canyon (Canyon Country) 12-2
2005 – Dominguez (Compton) 13-1
2004 – Mission Viejo 14-0*
2003 – J.W. North (Riverside) 14-0
2002 – Los Alamitos 13-0-1
2001 – Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 12-1
2000 – Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 14-0
1999 – Hart (Newhall) 14-0
1998 – Elk Grove 14-0
1997 – Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 14-0
1996 – Fontana 11-1-1
1995 – Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 12-1
1994 – Los Alamitos 12-1
1993 – Eisenhower (Rialto) 14-0*
1992 – Clovis West (Fresno) 13-0
1991 – Eisenhower (Rialto) 13-1
1990 – Merced 14-0*
*Also overall State Team of Year.
**Played in 2021 spring season.

This is the championship photo for Bakersfield Christian after team won CIF Central Section D1-A title. The Eagles won again in the 2-AA region final. Photo: bakersfieldchristianathletics / Instagram.com.

STATE DIVISION II & MEDIUM SCHOOLS TEAM OF THE YEAR:
BAKERSFIELD CHRISTIAN

As explained in the most recent medium schools state rankings, head coach Darren Carr’s team at Bakersfield Christian was put into the No. 1 spot for having the opportunity to win the CIF D2-AA state title. That didn’t happen, but the Eagles still did enough to be State D2 and State Medium Schools Team of the Year.

The Eagles had a 24-21 win over CIFSS D4 champion La Habra in the SoCal regionals. Then last Friday, they lost in the state final, but only 27-24, to St. Mary’s of Stockton (D1 and large schools by our criteria) and had a chance to tie the score at the end were it not for a missed field goal. Therefore, they will stay in that top position for medium schools and No. 1 for D2.

In the final overall State TOP 50 rankings, Bakersfield Christian is going to go back behind CIF Central Section D1AA runner-up Clovis (large schools), but will be ahead of all of the others from the section who were in the D1-AA playoffs. The Eagles won the D1-A section title with a 38-16 win over Liberty of Bakersfield. All of the teams in the section will go up a bit in the final rankings thanks to Central East of Fresno getting past previously unbeaten Pacifica of Oxnard, 42-28, in the CIF D1-A state final. Central East and Pacifica are D1 and large schools. Liberty has been large schools as well. Bakersfield Christian has been medium all season, but as the program keeps building and keeps playing more larger schools it will come up to that level in our rankings as well.

We were a bit shocked to see that the last CIF Central Section team to be No. 1 for D2 was the legendary group from 1978 at Mt. Whitney of Visalia that went 13-0 and was State Team of the Year overall. Central Valley Christian of Visalia from two years ago (15-1) was the State D3 Team of the Year but La Serna of Whittier was the Medium Schools State Team of the Year. This is the first-ever state team of the year selection for Bakersfield Christian in school history.

STATE DIVISION IV & SMALL SCHOOLS TEAM OF THE YEAR:
SONORA

The winner of last Saturday’s CIF D2-A state championship game between Sonora (14-0) and Rio Hondo Prep of Arcadia (15-0) was guaranteed to be finishing up the 2025 season as the state’s No. 1 team for small schools and also No. 1 for D4 in our final five-division state rankings.

Head coach Kirk Clifton’s squad at Sonora kept up its dominant ways with a 35-10 triumph over the Kares. That followed up a 41-7 win in the CIF NorCal D2-A final over Woodcreek of Roseville in a matchup that saw Sonora jumped up as the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D6 champion to play the D3 section champs.

The Wildcats also won their second straight CIF state title after taking the crown in D4-A from last season. They were not the top-ranked small school team last season, though, in favor of CIF D4-AA state champion St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma, which got to that position with a win in the regionals over Hughson (which beat Sonora earlier in the season).

Amazingly, this is not Sonora’s first state team of the year selection. We have two in our files from the 1925 and 1926 seasons in which the Wildcats posted records of 5-0 and 4-1. They are shown as State D4 Team of the Year for both.

Sonora’s big win over Rio Hondo Prep and final No. 1 small school ranking also is another feather in the cap for the Trans Valley League of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section. The TVL has had four No. 1 teams in the final D4 state rankings in the last seven years with Sonora joining Escalon for 2022 and 2023 and Ripon for 2019. Modesto Christian and Hilmar from the TVL also have been No. 1 in the state for D4 or small schools since the 2008 season.

No small school has ever won a CIF bowl games as high as the 2-A championships, and now with two straight state championships and the state’s longest current win streak, is it fair to call the 2025 Sonora team greatest small school of all time?

The Wildcats are in the discussion, but for Clifton he’s already preparing for next season and future goals.

“Well, the weight room opens up at six o’clock in the morning on Monday,” Clifton said with a smile after last Saturday’s game. “We have a lot of work to do. We will graduate a lot of seniorsbut we have a strong sophomore class and a lot of juniors that contributed.”

STATE DIVISION III TEAM OF THE YEAR:
KENNEDY (DELANO)

For beating the CIF L.A. City Section Open Division champion in one regional final and then beating an Oakland McClymonds team in the CIF D3-A state final that is a team that could have conceivably been placed even one division higher, the Thunderbirds are now getting an additional honor placed on their resume. They will be on the all-time list of D3 State Teams of the Year by us.

Kennedy of Delano head coach Mario Millan shows excitement just seconds after score went final in CIF D3-A state championship. Photo: delanosportsmedia / Instagram.com.

D3 is technically medium schools and not small schools and for this season we have had teams from the South Sequoia League of the CIF Central Section like Wasco and similar sized schools like Shafter as small schools. For the final rankings, however, and based on the final two wins, we’ll go with the Thunderbirds as medium and while they won’t be higher than other teams in the final medium schools rankings like Bakersfield Christian or Crean Lutheran (Irvine), La Habra and others, all of those teams also are D2 and not D3 like Kennedy.

The Central Section had the D3 State Team of the Year just two seasons ago with Central Valley Christian of Visalia, which was the CIF D2-A state champion. McClymonds was in that position the previous season in 2021. We have to go back to 1987 for the last time there’s a team from the section before that and the last time it went to a team from Kern County. That was for Garces of Bakersfield in 1987, which went 11-0-1.

In Kennedy’s 42-25 victory last Saturday over McClymonds, standout senior Jace Demacabalin kept up his outstanding season by rushing for 203 yards on 32 carries and scored five touchdowns. He also had four sacks playing defense. But Jace was not the leading rusher in the game for the Thunderbirds. Senior Cristian Hernandez had a season-high 261 yards rushing on 14 carries with one score. Demacabalin also wrapped up his career No. 1 in Kern County history with 7,235 yards rushing and No. 2 in Kern County history with 102 career touchdowns. Both totals also will go in to our state record files next time they are updated.

STATE DIVISION V TEAM OF THE YEAR:
FERNDALE

While the final order of the small schools state rankings are still to be determined, Ferndale is the only one that will be in the top 10 that is considered D5 and not D4 based on school size. The Wildcats also played and beat D4 St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma (last season’s State Small Schools Team of the Year) in the CIF North Coast Section D5 championship before losing to Sutter (also D4) in the CIF NorCal D4-AA regional final.

During the first eight weeks of the season, head coach Clint McClurg’s squad just absolutely destroyed its competition with wins of 57-0, 62-0, 49-0, 58-0, 73-0, 79-0, 72-0 and 67-0. The 72-0 win also came against Arcata, the CIF D6-A state champion from last season. Ferndale then beat McKinleyville 82-12 to stop the shutout streak and entered the playoffs with a state record of 645 points scored in a regular season. The competition did get tougher after that in the NCS playoffs with wins of 54-14 over Arroyo of San Lorenzo and then 35-7 over Salesian of Richmond. Then came the showdown with St. Vincent de Paul and the Wildcats won, 26-14. Sutter was next and put a stop to the season with a 21-7 triumph. This year’s team therefore wrapped the season with a 769-74 scoring margin in 14 games, one of the highest in state history.

Ferndale, also known for being the westermost high school in the state, has had an outstanding tradition of small town, small school football success. The Wildcats were State Team of the Year for D5 once before and that was in 2012 when the team went 12-1. They also won a CIF state title before in a lower division than D4-AA in D7-AA two years ago with a 29-21 victory vs Fairfax of Los Angeles.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports